1Then they told David, "Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshingfloors."
2So David asked the LORD, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And the LORD said to David, "Go, and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah."
3But David's men said to him, "Look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?"
4Then David asked the LORD once more. And the LORD answered him, "Get up, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand."
5So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines. They drove away their cattle and killed a great many of them. So David saved the people of Keilah.
6When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.
7Saul was told that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, "God has given him into my hand, for he is shut in. He has gone into a town that has gates and bars."
8So Saul called all the people together for war, to go down to Keilah and to besiege David and his men.
9David knew that Saul was secretly planning harm against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here."
10Then David said, "LORD God of Israel, your servant has certainly heard that Saul means to come to Keilah, to destroy the city because of me."
11"Will the men of Keilah hand me over to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? LORD God of Israel, I beg you, tell your servant." And the LORD said, "He will come down."
12Then David said, "Will the men of Keilah hand me and my men over to Saul?" And the LORD said, "They will hand you over."
13Then David and his men, about six hundred of them, got up and left Keilah, and went wherever they could go. Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, so he did not go out.
14David stayed in the wilderness in strongholds, and stayed in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul looked for him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.
15David saw that Saul had come out to take his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph, in a wood.
17He said to him, "Do not be afraid, for the hand of Saul my father will not find you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be next to you. My father Saul knows this too."
18The two of them made a covenant before the LORD. David stayed in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.
19Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, "Is David not hiding among us in strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon?"
20"So now, king, come down whenever you wish to come down, and it will be our part to hand him over to the king."
21And Saul said, "May you be blessed by the LORD, for you have had compassion on me."
22Go, please, make ready still more. Find out and see the place where he stays, and who has seen him there, for I am told that he acts very cunningly.
23"So look, and learn all the hiding places where he hides himself, and come back to me when you are sure, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah."
24They got up and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. But David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain south of Jeshimon.
25Saul and his men also went to look for him. David was told, so he went down to a rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard that, he chased after David in the wilderness of Maon.
26Saul went along one side of the mountain, and David and his men along the other side of the mountain. David hurried to get away for fear of Saul, for Saul and his men were closing in around David and his men to take them.
27But a messenger came to Saul and said, "Hurry, and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land."
28So Saul turned back from chasing David, and went against the Philistines. That is why they called that place Selahammahlekoth.
29And David went up from there and lived in strongholds at Engedi.